Best Cloud Storage for Slack

The marriage between Slack and cloud storage seems like a no-brainer. Both tools are used to communicate, collaborate and share content with others, and both use the cloud to make that happen.

For most of even the best cloud storage options, however, sharing files stored in the cloud to Slack requires logging into your cloud storage account, generating a link to the file you want to share and then pasting that link into a Slack text box.

Okay, so maybe that doesn’t sound all that tedious. That said, well-designed Slack integration makes work life marginally easier, and making work life marginally easier is a big part of what using the cloud is all about.

Slack integrations let you attach files to Slack channels without having to leave the application. In some cases, you can even add files to Slack directly from your cloud storage GUI.

During this article, we’ll be taking a look at what, in our option, are the best cloud storage services for Slack. A few of these services will likely appeal more to business users than home consumers, as they rank as some of the best EFSS (that’s short for “enterprise sync and share,” which is basically cloud storage for business) solutions available.

Before we get to our list, though, let’s talk about the criteria we used in making our decisions.

What Makes Cloud Storage the Best for Slack

The first thing we looked for when compiling our rankings for cloud storage tools that work best for Slack: does the service actually integrate with Slack?

There are two types of integration with Slack possible. The first is through the Slack app directory. By searching for and adding a cloud storage service through this directory, you’ll be able to access your cloud storage directly from your Slack channel.

The second type of integration is adding Slack as a connected app through your cloud storage GUI. For example, Egnyte Connect has a searchable third-party app directory with hundreds or thousands of different software integration options. Add Slack, and you can can share files in your cloud storage directly to the Slack application.

In addition to looking at the actual ability to integrate with Slack, we considered how each qualifying cloud storage option drives collaboration. Slack is, after all, a messaging tool designed to keep teams on the same page. A cloud storage tool that compliments that focus is generally going to be a better option that one that doesn’t.

Now that our approach is clarified, let’s get to our best cloud storage for Slack picks.

Naming Egnyte Connect as our favorite cloud storage for Slack was both easy and hard. On the one hand, it ranks as our favorite enterprise sync and share service. On the other hand, it’s not for solo users: Egnyte requires a minimum party of five.

Most businesses using Slack, however, likely have more than five employees. Also, if you’re a business owner looking for the ideal collaboration tool to pair with Slack to improve your team communication and productivity, Egnyte simply has too much going for it not to be our top pick.

Connecting Egnyte with Slack is easy. All you have to do is log into your Egnyte web interface and click on the tab for “apps and add-ons.” From there, run a search for “Slack” and click the “enable” button once you find it.

As the account admin, you can give other users on your account the ability to add Slack, too, or even add it for them. In any case, once integrated, you’ll be able to share to Slack directly from the Egnyte Connect GUI.

You can also give Slack permission to access your Egnyte storage so that you can find and share files without ever leaving Slack. Just type “/egnyte” from any Slack channel to access commands to share content.

Options include “share,” “upload & share,” “go to Egnyte” and “help.”

Share will open a file picker so that you can select a folder or file to share. Share and upload, meanwhile, lets you share a file and save it to Egnyte at the same time. Either will leave a link in the Slack channel others can use to preview and download the content.

Any files uploaded to Slack from Egnyte Connect will be indexed and searchable, just like Slack messages. File changes are synchronized, so users searching for previously shared documents in Slack will access the most recent version when they find the link they’re looking for.

Aside from Slack integration, Egnyte has many other productivity capabilities that make a good match for Slack. These include native task management tools for businesses that don’t want to spend on Trello, not to mention many other third-party productivity tool integrations besides Slack.

Among those third-party options are both Google Docs and Office Online, making it one of the few business cloud storage tools that work with both.

File sharing with Egnyte is among the most secure of any of the cloud storage for business options, too, thanks to the ability to add passwords to shares and other link control options.

Other Reasons We Like Egnyte Connect

Egnyte sync speeds are among the fastest you’ll find thanks to the use of block-level file copying. You can read more about block-level copying if you want, but in a nutshell it means that only the parts of files that changed get uploaded to the cloud when you make edits, rather than copying the entire file all over again.

That makes it much easier to work in near real-time with coworkers across the globe, and saves you bandwidth, too. To our knowledge, the only cloud storage services that use block-level file copying to speed up sync are Egnyte, Dropbox, Amazon Drive and sometimes OneDrive.

Although it does require at least five users, we also like the way Egnyte is priced. The monthly cost per user works out to about $8 with the 5TB plan, Egnyte Office.

Still, the overall cost is enough to warrant caution, which you can exercise by reading our full Egnyte review and taking the service for a 15-day free test run before buying.

When it comes to third-party integrations, no cloud storage service comes close to matching what Google Drive offers. It’s no surprise that Slack is one of those integrations. We ranked Google Drive second because of the library of the productivity tools it offers, which along with Slack should help keep your team plenty productive.

Google Drive actually comes mostly pre-integrated with Slack, too, so give it bonus points for ease of use. All you have to do is click the plus icon beside the Slack message box to upload a file to Slack from Google Drive.

Prior to completing the connection, you just have to give Slack permission to access and make changes to Google Drive. You’ll then be able to add Google Drive files to any Slack channel with relative ease.

Slack also lets you create and share Google Docs directly from within the interface, which is convenient if you want to quickly create a collaborative document with one of your Slack contacts.

You can add Slack directly from the Google Drive app library, too. Just search for it and click “connect.”

However, all this really does is bookmark the Slack website. It does not let you share files to Slack from the Google Drive GUI like Egnyte does, which is one of the reasons we ranked Google Drive lower.

Other Reasons We Like Google Drive

Unlike Egnyte, with Google Drive you don’t have to buy cloud storage for a team. Instead, you can buy it for yourself and still integrate with Slack, which makes it great for freelancers and the like.

Costs for Google Drive aren’t particularly cheap, but they aren’t bad either and you do get 15GB of storage for free. Read our Google Drive review for more details.

Dropbox ranks as one of the most popular cloud storage tools in the world, both for home (read our Dropbox review) and business (read our Dropbox Business review) use. However, the consumer version of Dropbox doesn’t provide nearly as many application integrations as the enterprise version does.

Dropbox Business has a special Slack integration that you can add by logging into your account online. This integration works like Egnyte’s, letting you add files to slack while logged into the Dropbox GUI.

For both home and business users, you can also integrate Dropbox with Slack by copying and pasting a Dropbox link in a Slack channel message box. Going forward you can post Dropbox files by clicking the plus icon beside the Slack message box, just like with Google Drive.

We rank Dropbox third because you really need to subscribe to Dropbox Business to get the most out of it as a collaboration tool, and even then it doesn’t quite measure up to Google Drive.

On top of that, Dropbox can be tad expensive, especially if you go with Dropbox Professional for home use or Dropbox Advanced for business use.

Other Reasons We Like Dropbox

Dropbox uses block-level file copying, just like Egnyte, making it one of the faster and more reliable file synchronization options. More advanced Dropbox subscriptions also have some nifty sync features like “Smart Sync,” which lets you access files using the Dropbox sync folder on your computer but only stores them in the cloud.

Dropbox also has some nice file-sharing features, including link passwords and expiry dates, though, again, you don’t get these with a basic Dropbox subscription or free, 2GB account.

At Cloudwards.net, we don’t value Dropbox quite as highly as many others do in the information technology field, but that’s mostly because it costs too much to get the best features it has to offer. However, Dropbox does do a lot of neat things you won’t find with most other cloud storage tools, including Slack integration.

Box is a big business cloud storage favorite, although it has plans suited to small businesses and personal use, too. Any one of the subscriptions can be integrated with Slack, so you don’t have to pay extra to make it work on Box’s end.

To add Slack to Box, all you need to do is access the app library available by logging into the Box online GUI. Search for “Slack” and click “add” once you find it. As expected, you’ll need to give Slack permission to access your Box account.

Going forward, you’ll be able to right-click on any object you’ve stored in the Box cloud and “share to Slack.”

You can add comments and set permissions prior to posting your file to Slack, too.

If you want to access your Box account directly from Slack to share files, that’s an option as well. Just log into the Slack app directory, search for Box and click “install.” Once installed, you’ll be able to access your Box cloud storage directly from Slack.

As with other services, Box files added to Slack are indexed so that they can be searched for just like Slack messages.

Other Reasons We Like Box

Box combines a simple cloud storage approach with advanced admin controls to manage your work team. It’s secure with great file-sharing features to keep your content out of unauthorized hands, too. However, as with some of the other options in this roundup, what we like most about Box are the application integrations.

In addition to Slack, Box integrates with both Google Drive and Office Online (like Egnyte). Thousands of other application integrations mean you can turn your Box cloud storage into a powerful work productivity machine, of which Slack is just one part of many.

Box also has an unlimited storage plan for just $17 per user per month, which is a good value for business use.

OneDrive doesn’t have GUI integration for Slack. That means you can’t right-click on a file in OneDrive and share it directly to Slack.

Instead, you can only integrate the two services directly through the Slack, which lets you access OneDrive files by clicking on the plus icon near your channel message box. Enable this integration through the Slack app directory, just like with any other Slack app. Or, you can just paste a OneDrive file link in your Slack message box to permit the integration.

Going forward, you can paste files into Slack without having to grant permissions. However, Slack doesn’t let you access and browse your OneDrive storage directly from Slack like you can with our other favorite cloud storage for Slack options.

Still, Microsoft’s cloud storage solution is one of the few that integrate with Slack, and it has some other work features besides that make it ideal for the Slack crowd, so we gave it the fifth and final spot on our list without much second thought.

Other Reasons We Like OneDrive

OneDrive comes with Office Online fully integrated, no further fuss needed. While some may prefer Google Docs, which isn’t an option with OneDrive, Office Online remains a highly popular office suite among business users.

Value is also key to the OneDrive appeal: the service gives you 1TB of storage for just $6.99 per month and that comes with permission to use Microsoft’s downloadable version of MS Office, Office 365.

The service also uses block-level sync for Microsoft files, making for smoother collaborations on files you share in Slack.

We have some big concerns regarding OneDrive security for home use that you can read about in our personal OneDrive review. The EFSS version, which you can read about in our OneDrive for Business review, doesn’t share those same issues, though is somewhat limited in third-party app integration options beyond Slack.

Conclusion

There are far better reasons to choose or pass on a cloud storage service than whether or not it integrates with Slack. However, if you’re an avid user of Slack and frequently collaborate with others, it sure doesn’t hurt to take it into account.

Each of the five options we mentioned in this roundup not only work great with Slack, they provide many other collaborative benefits that have made them some of the most popular picks in the cloud storage for business space.

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We stand by Egnyte as the best of the bunch, so long as you’ve got at least five employees that need cloud storage, too. It syncs fast, has great file-sharing security and works with Google Docs and Office Online. That’s why it figures rather prominently in our best EFSS roundup.